There are many ways a small animal can mislead predators or
prey by disguising itself. The most obvious ways are by 1) looking like a
more dangerous animal, 2) looking like something uninteresting or 3) becoming
invisible by blending into its surroundings. Sometimes, though, these
animals make mistakes, and we humans sometimes unintentionally set them up to do
so.

A word to the wise: these little blue-framed pictures are thumbnails,
i.e., if you click on any of them, you'll see a much larger version of that
picture. If not, you may miss the crucial details that make the point.

Virginia
Hover Fly
(Milesia
virginiensis, subfamily Eristalinae), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06.
Note the flattened abdomen, a characteristic apparently peculiar to syrphid flies.
This relatively large fly (sometimes almost an inch long) can look
menacing when it hovers in the air right in front of you. But it's
just bluffing.

Harmless checkered beetle (Enoclerus ichneumoneus), Penny's Bend Nature
Preserve, Durham County, NC, 4/4/09. Granted, this insect is
never found in the same environments as the Cowkiller and hardly
moves. It may be a coincidence that they look so similar, but as
we'll see later, red and black are a winning combination.

Spider wasp
(Psorthaspis mariae), Falls Lake Dam area, 9/11/10. It successfully mimicked a velvet ant while
scurrying along. It actually looks more like the checkered beetle in
this photo.

These animals generally look as if they have big heads. Eyespots
imply this, but sometimes the design represents complete mimicry of a long jaw
with many teeth. Sometimes, though, the animal just looks heavily armed.

Female Basilica Spider, American Tobacco Trail, Durham, NC, 6/29/09.
If you click on this thumbnail, you can see how it looks like it has a large head with long jaws.

See the eyespots
on this late-instar Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar, Indian Creek Trail,
Jordan Lake, Chatham County, NC, 9/3/06. To judge from the threads on
either side, it might have been about to become a chrysalis, but in
other circumstances it may have reared its head and tried to look
aggressive.

Crablike
Spiny Orb Weaver, Cypress Gardens, Berkeley County, SC,
10/12/07.The spines certainly make it look unappetizing; whether
it looks like a scary face, though, is a matter of opinion. If you
unsuspectedly wreck its web and it winds up in your hand, it feels like
a sandspur.See other spiders.

Beech Blight Aphids (Grylloprociphilus
imbricator), Johnston
Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 8/31/07. They waved their
abdomens up and down in unison, looking like a large, furry animal.

They
invite to bite

When some predators see eyes and/or wiggling parts, they
bite.

Mating Common
Buckeyes, Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC,
8/24/05. Here is a contrast of the dorsal and ventral side patterns of
wings.

Common Buckeye,
Durham, 10/17/05, still flying in spite of a bite or two at the
eyespots.

Yes, wasps have predators, although you don't hear
about them too much. This robber fly is subduing a hornet with what seems like very
unflylike behavior: note the hornet's
stinger. Duke Forest Gate #12, Durham, NC, 8/23/06.

Zebra Heliconian.
Across the street from the East Campus of Duke University, Durham, NC,
10/4/04. Its natural habit is in the tropics, so its mimicry is
probably less effective here, as the apparent bite out of the left wing
suggests.

Burdock Beetle (Leptinotarsa juncta). Same beetle, playing dead. Close to looking like a
Colorado Potato Beetle, but no cigar: the broad black stripe and the
thorax markings set it apart. It is an herbivore, but not a crop pest.

Spots, whether red on black or vice versa, are
a common sight. All of these animals are designed to ward off predators:
they are all herbivorous except for the Ladybug Beetle, whose black-spotted red
expanse towers, out of sight, over its tiny aphid prey.

Convergent Ladybug Beetle
(Hippodamia convergens), Durham, NC, 9/13/08. Found in a power
line cut.

And this young animal's species is unique here,
its members containing
tetrodotoxin, the same poison that makes the notorious Japanese puffer
fish so deadly, but this does not protect them from certain wily (and dexterous)
predators, according to Eisner (2003).

Red-spotted Newt
(Notophthalmus viridescens), red eft stage,
Appalachian Trail, Macon County, 8/18/04. Red spells "poisonous"
in nature's lexicon, but when this baby newt grows up, it'll have to rely on its wits to survive,
since it'll be mostly brown with a few small red spots.

These three red-and-black arthropods all mimic
one another; none attacks humans (but please don't eat them in any case...)

Golden Tortoise Beetle (Charidotella bicolor),
Durham, NC, 7/1/07. These are photos of the same beetle, taken in
different lights. This beetle's elytra look showy orange from one
angle and matching (reflecting) green from another.

Soft-winged
flower beetle (Collops genus), which can't seem to make up its mind
about fight or flight. A combination of scary red and camouflage
green during the day, it becomes red and black in dim light. Seen in neighborhood marsh.
Durham, NC, 8/23/08

Simple Mimicry: hiding in plain sight, useful for both predators and prey

These each look like
something else that is unappetizing and unthreatening, but are still clearly visible.

Warty Leaf Beetle(Neochlamisus
gibbosus, Chlamisini tribe, Cryptocephalinae subfamily), Durham, NC,
5/10/08. This beetle is typically confused with
caterpillar droppings, but only when it tucks its legs under it and lies
motionless!

Ambush Bug, Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC, 9/17/08.
At a distance, this insect looks like a wilted flower on this type of
plant. When there only seems to be one on the entire plant, it's
almost always an Ambush Bug.

This Ambush Bug has
turned green to suit the occasion. Durham, NC, 8/23/08

Antlion
(Vella americanum), Carolina Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC,
6/25/08. between 2 and 3 inches long. Obvious camouflage: if
you don't click on the thumbnail, you really can't appreciate this one!

Immature Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata).
This crab has adapted its markings to the sandy environment.

Immature Ghost Crab, Ft. Fisher, New Hanover County, NC, 10/20/05.
This crab is matching its pattern to another type of sand.

Northern Cricket Frog
(Acris crepitans),
Penny's Bend Nature
Preserve, Durham County, NC, 10/21/06. This frog was very far from
water, on the side of a very tall hill in the woods, although it looks
as though it would be at home in an environment with moss or algae. It did get the
mottled look right, though.

Whitish tiger beetle (Cicindela gratiosa), Carolina
Beach State Park, New Hanover County, NC, 6/23/06. It was
springing around like a fly, and all I could see was motion at first. ID thanks to Patrick Coin of
Durham, NC.

American Toad (Bufo
americanus), Eno River
SP, 5/2/03. Superb camouflage! This toad blends in well with the
forest floor, a combination of small, relatively unhealthy green plants and dead leaves.

Fishfly (Corydalidae family), hiding on the underside of a tree branch,
Cambden County (just north of Elizabeth City), NC, 4/27/09. This
is a large insect (about 2 inches long).

Barn Swallow
(Hirundo rustica)
about to fly under the Pasquotank River Bridge between Pasquotank and
Camden Counties, NC, 4/27/09. The blue blends in well with the
bodies of water they are always near when they fly, but their brown
"faces" are what show when they're in their nests, which are built on
sides of walls.

Female Northern Flicker
(Colaptes auratus), showing a rear view of the head. Durham, NC,
3/19/09. Generally seen in my neighborhood in the early spring, this
bird blends in well with mostly bare
tree branches and Red Maple blossoms.

A Common Oak Moth
(Phoberia atomaris) managed to slip under a pine needle and part of a
leaf in a split-second landing at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, Orange County, NC,
3/17/11. These moths
were very common in this area that day, but extremely fast-moving and
often impossible to see when they landed. I got this photo by
aiming the camera where I saw the moth land, without actually seeing it!

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris
thisbe), Durham, 8/3/03. Note the distinctive green thorax and
red-brown abdomen and wings. Note how the flowers show through the
clear parts of the wings.

Male Calico Pennant
(Celithemis elisa), Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham, NC, 5/20/10.
Even with a few spots on them, the wings are very hard to see.

Camouflage mistakes: Sometimes animals either fail to adjust their skin
to the right color or pick the wrong background.

Gray Treefrog
(Hyla
chrysoscelus) or Copes' Gray Treefrog
(Hyla versicolor), Durham, NC,
7/27/08. This frog's problem may be due to malnutrition or
illness, since "gray" treefrogs are normally not all gray.

Looks like a brown
AmericanGreen Treefrog (Hyla Cinerea).Durham,
10/18/06. Seen in a power line cut near a creek.Since it was late in the year, near the end of insect season, the frog
may have been malnourished.

Animals that rely on camouflage have special difficulties
adapting to artificially produced environments, especially those with solid
colors or those simply not found in certain natural environments.

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis),Ft. Fisher State Recreational Area,
New Hanover County, NC, 10/12/06. You can see some pigment changes
on the head and tail, resulting in four different colors.

Rough Stink Bug
(Brochymena arborea),
Durham, NC, 11/9/10, on a painted wall, with some peeling of the paint
evident.

Gray (Copes?) Treefrog
(Hyla genus), Durham, NC, 10/13/08, on the rim of a brown
plastic garbage can. This is a normal, healthy frog. During
droughts, these frogs jump into rain-collecting containers, swim around
and leave without difficulty. But they do stand out in this
environment!

Common Buckeye
butterfly (Junonia coenia), on a car at Freeman Park, Carolina Beach, NC, 10/19/05.
The beach is no place for this butterfly, which has the deep brown color
of mid-winter fallen leaves.

Sometimes camouflage works against the animal's
interest, most notably with dark gravel pavement.

Blister Beetle
(Lytta aenea), probably not in great shape. Despite the red legs,
it's not easy to see and risks being stepped on.

Some insects hide under a cover of their own
creation.

Green lacewing larva, hiding under a large white mass
which typically includes everything from leaf trichomes (hairlike projections) to
dead insects. Durham, NC, 6/11/09. It was pinching me at the
time, apparently trying to gather more material.

Another view of
this Green Lacewing larva, showing more clearly the bodies of its
previous prey, including what looks like a large bug nymph,
Durham, NC, 6/11/09

Flatid Planthopper
nymph, Durham, NC, 7/6/07, eyes a leg showing on the top. These hide
under a cottony substance they excrete from their abdomens.

Acanalonid planthopper nymph, producing a similar white substance to that
shown on the left.
Durham, NC, 7/7/08. As with flatid planthoppers, these nymphs gather in tight groups,
apparently rubbing this substance on one another.

Casebearer beetle larva
(Cryptocephalinae subfamily, Chrysomelidae family), Jordan Lake
Gameland, Chatham County, NC, 6/19/07, hiding under an imposing
tower of its own fecal matter. You can see the little legs at
the bottom.